300 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



fauna : Scomber thunnina, Cuv. (or Euthyanus allitoratus, Ray). 

 It Is a pelagic fish of almost world-wide distribution, which 

 has been several times taken on the coast of Scandinavia, 

 but never on our coast, so far as I am aware, without making 

 a search in the bibliography.' 



" I must therefore congratulate you on turning up a fish, 

 not only new to Yarmouth but to Great Britain. ... If you 

 do not mind I will send a note to the Field, and you had better 

 record it in the Zoologist. I saw at once that the fish was of 

 a species of which I had no experience, but I have looked 

 up its history in Day's Fishes of India." 



Mr. Southwell's note appeared in the Field of Sep- 

 tember ist. The first half of it covered the ground I have 

 already dealt with, but the latter half may not be considered 

 out of place. He wrote : 



" On turning to Day's Fishes of India I find that he 

 figures this species (Plate LIV, fig. 6) under the name 

 Thynnus thunnina, and states that it is found in the seas 

 of India to the Malay Archipelago, where it is common 

 during the cold months, and that it is found in the 

 Mediterranean and tropical parts of the Atlantic. Its 

 northern range extends to the Scandinavian seas, and Lloyd 

 in his Game Birds, etc., of Norway and Sweden (p. 477), 

 quoting from the Proceedings of the Royal Academy of 

 Science, Stockholm (1863), mentions the occurrence of a 

 specimen 2 ft. 9 in. long, weighing 22 Ibs., near Malmo, in 

 1857. Whether others have since been met with in the 

 Scandinavian seas I know not. 



" The occurrence of this southern form of a widely dis- 

 tributed family of fishes off our eastern shores in an inter- 

 mediate but still northern locality is very interesting, and it 

 is quite possible that some of the bonitos, small tunnys, or 

 very large mackerel, which have from time to time been 

 recorded, may have belonged to this species, but falling into 

 less discerning hands than those of Mr. Patterson, they may 

 have passed unrecognised. The Yarmouth specimen was 

 2 ft. long and weighed 7 Ibs." 



I am exceedingly pleased to record the capture of this 

 stranger, whose subsequent adventures go to prove that 

 utter absence of selfishness which is characteristic of all 

 good naturalists, and the great care that is exercised in 

 placing species on record in the annals of our county's 

 fauna. The bonito is now in the Tolhouse Museum. 



